Worlds Away
by Aria6
Summary: An interesting fic that starts in an alternate dimension. All will be explained, and it'll go to the usual universe next chapter. This isn't a mirror universe... just different. Read and review, please!
1. Default Chapter

IIt starts with ...  
  
One thing, I don't know why, it doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to explain in due time. All I know...  
  
Time is a valuable thing. Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings. Watch it count down to the end of the day. The clock ticks life away. So unreal...  
  
Didn't look out below. Watch the time go right out the window. Try to hold on, didn't even know, or wasted it all, just to watch you go... I kept everything inside, even though I tried, it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...  
  
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I  
  
Fingers delicately traced a pattern in the spilled energon. It glittered with hundreds of hues and shades, as he doodled with it.  
  
IOne thing, I don't know why. It doesn't even matter how hard you try. Keep that in mind, I designed this rhyme to remind myself how I tried so hard...  
  
In spite of the way you were mocking me, acting like I was part of your property, remembering all the times you fought with me, I'm surprised it got so hard... things aren't the way they were before. You wouldn't even recognize me anymore. No doubt you knew me back then, but it all comes back to me in the end... you kept everything inside, and even though I tried it all fell apart. What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time...  
  
I tried so hard... and got so far... in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I  
  
The doodle was forming a face. He clenched a metal hand, then wiped it away with one swift move. That was nothing he cared to think of.  
  
II put my trust, in you... as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know....  
  
I've put my trust, in you... pushed as far as I can go... for all this, there's only one thing you should know...  
  
I tried so hard, and got so far. But in the end, it doesn't even matter... I had to fall, to loose it all... but in the end, it doesn't even matter.../I  
  
He sighed, resting his forehead in his hand. The song was probably helping cause this depressed mood... it was all too accurate.  
  
He was trapped. Trapped in this hellhole of a world, unable to get out, unable to get home. He wanted desperately to get home...  
  
IBWell, do something about it! Where's your fire, Decepticon? Where's your pride? Did you leave them in the ashes of the Dawning Sun?/I/B  
  
He started, barely managing to suppress it so the bartender wouldn't notice. IDon't DO that to me!/I He always hated it when the voice did that... the voice of an old friend. But it was a lot easier to have friends OUTSIDE of his body, rather than in his head.  
  
IBWe have to do something. This place is so... so... so sterile. There's nothing HERE for me. How am I supposed to ascend with THIS to work with?/I/B  
  
He sighed softly. Her endless obsession with her "ascension" could become wearying. ILook, human, what do you want me to do? I can barely earn enough to keep energon in my body, let alone enough for passage offworld. And I could never get a travel permit anyway./I He groaned softly to himself, thinking about his situation.  
  
It was dismal. He'd been a proud warrior, fighting for the Alliance on behalf of his homeworld, Dawn. When he'd escaped from his captors, he'd dreamed of making his way off Cybertron, out of enemy territory, and being hailed a hero…  
  
He hadn't dreamed about living like a mecha-rat, forced to make do with whatever scraps and work he could dreg up. He hadn't imagined a cease-fire being called, leaving him stranded completely…  
  
IBut then, I was very young./I He smiled slightly at the thought. As Transformers went, he was still nothing more than an infant, but he felt much older now…  
  
"Ah, I knew I'd find you here, Rust." The Seeker lifted his head at the rich, throaty voice. There was an Autobot behind him.  
  
But she was a friend. A small smile crossed his face, as he regarded her. "Hello, Foam. Pull up a seat?"  
  
He was pleased to see her, for several reasons. He always found her body ascetically pleasing… she was a bright, canary yellow, the Autobot symbol glinting brightly on her wings/fins. They swept out from her back in a delicate arch. Unlike most Transformers he knew, she had 'hair'… frothy metal curls, made of curled wire, cascaded down her back. Their light blueish white hue had helped give her her name. Her whole body was slender and graceful, meant for blinding speed and maneuverability.  
  
Well, she appeared slender… until she sat down. Then her sheer size hit him, as it always did, when they sat or stood together. He was the average height for a Seeker Decepticon, not short at all… but the top of his head hit the middle of her chest. Even after this long, he felt like a bit of a pigmy beside her.  
  
"Rust, what has that poor energon cube done to offend you so? Put it out of its misery." She said softly, a mischievous twinkle in her golden, glowing eyes. He glanced down at the cube in bemusement, then downed it in one quick gulp.  
  
"Gah." He shook himself slightly as the energon hit his systems. It was vile stuff, but about the best he could afford. "Ick. It offended me by existing. But how have you been doing, Foam?"  
  
"This and that." She said in her quiet, purring voice. There was a faintly melodic component to it, that made him think of the sea. It was nothing as obvious as gargling, thank goodness, but it was there. A hint of waves… She folded her hands on the table, expression reflective. "I was working as a secretary for a fairly important bureaucrat, but I fear that won't last much longer."  
  
"They haven't found out your ID is fake, have they?" Rust asked, voice lowered. They all had fake ID's. In his case, and Killroy's, that did little good. Decepticons never got good jobs in Cybertron anyway… prejudice lingered from the first war. It struck him as pointlessly stupid, but as ossified as Cybertron's society was, it was understandable.  
  
For Foam, though, things were different. She was the one who made decent credits, and paid for the small, rat-trap dwelling they had rented. Without her, they'd be out on the streets in no time. If she'd been identified...  
  
But she was shaking her head. "No, it's just that his workload has shifted and it's unlikely he'll need me in the future." The bartender brought her an energon cube, and she waited until he was out of earshot to continue. "I could probably find something else, but it's pointless. You said so yourself."  
  
Rust nodded grimly. He and Killroy had cultivated contacts among the thieves and rejects who lived in the deeper areas of Cybertron. Many of those contacts led to smugglers and pirates, but it was useless... no one was willing to smuggle them home. Cybertron was cracking down on illegal emmigration, and it was worth a pirate's life to go anywhere near the Alliance. They had a habit of shooting first, asking questions later, when they identified a pirate ship. Not that that stopped them from skulking around the fringes of the Alliance, but no pirate would agree to carry them anywhere useful.  
  
"What plan do you have, then?" Foam wouldn't be saying this if she didn't have an idea. But she shook her head again, setting her curls to bouncing.  
  
"Not now. Let's wait until Killroy gets here." She sipped her energon carefully, making a small moue of distaste. "Vile."  
  
"Now you know why I was avoiding drinking it." Rust chuckled softly, listening to the music idly. It had gone over to a purely instrumental, Cybertronian tune. He found it rather soothing...  
  
That peace was disturbed as a small figure clattered into the bar, making noise completely disproportionate with his size. "Guys!" Killroy jumped up onto a chair, kneeling on it so he'd be on a proper level with the table.  
  
He was a mini, one of Soundwave's newer cassette tapes. He was built in the same style as Rumble and Frenzy, but mostly sky blue, with touches of black. He was human sized, compared to Rust, who was about twenty feet, and Foam's thirty. Killroy was always smiling, always cheerful. He quickly snagged what was left of Foam's drink, and downed it in one quick gulp.  
  
"Gah! That's disgusting! Ohhh man!" He made a theatrical retching sound, borrowed from the humans he'd hung around with, long ago. "What kind of girbil droppings went into that?"  
  
"It serves you right for stealing my drink." Foam said with an amused smile, but ordered another round for all of them. Rust shrugged to himself. He didn't really need another cube, but Killroy would finish it off for him with no problem. It was amazing, how much energon was needed to run such a small Transformer. IMaybe it's because of the way he can't seem to stop moving.../I  
  
Rust's attention was diverted as Foam spoke again. "The spacebridge." She put her elbows on the table, expression deadly serious.  
  
"What about it?" Rust asked, polishing off his second cube happily. His protests about the quality of the energon were mostly for amusement... Rust was firmly convinced he could drink girbil droppings, and like it.  
  
"It's relatively unguarded." She said quietly, and Rust tilted his head to one side, trying to see where she was going. "And leads directly to Terra. If we can throw ourselves at the mercy of the Terran government, there's a good chance they'll contact our own ambassadors there and arrange something to get us home."  
  
There was a brief silence as they considered that. The whole reason they'd never revealed themselves to the Cybertronian authorities was that relationships were by no means warm, between Cybertron and the Alliance. A cease-fire had been called, and several prisoners exchanged. Maybe Cybertron would ransom them for energon... but maybe not. None of them were willing to take the chance.  
  
But Terra was different. The humans had stayed neutral in the conflict between Cybertron and the Alliance, and they were a signifigant trading partner with Dawn. They also traded with Typhoon and Valhalla, although to a lesser extent. The governments got along well, and the Terrans would have no reason to cerebro-probe them for military secrets.  
  
Cybertron might kick up a stink, but it was likely they'd get away with it...  
  
"I Ilike/I this plan." Rust said slowly, with an amused smile. "I definitely like this plan..." A dark presence curled and stretched in the back of his mind, purring like a well fed cat.  
  
IBI like it too.../I/B 


	2. Second chapterfor gods sake, review!

Coincidences will happen  
  
Stuff happens.  
  
It's an axiom of the universe. Things happen at the worst possible time. The proverbial glass of orange juice falling off the table, the pane of glass being carried across the street right in front of the chase...  
  
Murphy's law is alive.  
  
It's just waiting to trip you up. When the plans look good, everything's going well, you think you've got it made. that's when that snake will loop around your ankles unexpectedly. It knows when you're getting cocky.  
  
Sorry if I sound cynical, but hey, it's been a while.  
  
hr  
  
"Megatron, this is madness!"  
  
"Shut up, Starscream, and load the energon cubes." Megatron snarled at his second-in-command. He'd been willing to entertain objections at first. and there had been plenty, from more reliable sources than Starscream.  
  
But he'd finished with the objections. They needed to get the stolen energon to Cybertron before the Autobots assaulted them again, simple as that.  
  
"But there's an ion storm around Cybertron! We don't know how that will affect the spacebridge. What if we loose the shipment?"  
  
"We won't. And it won't be anymore lost than if the Autobots destroyed it. Now LOAD!" Starscream's eyes narrowed. but he knew better than to disobey that tone of voice, and set to work with a grumble. The other Decepticons were ignoring the byplay, trying to load the energon cubes into the spacebridge and get it over with as quickly as possible.  
  
Soundwave watched the process, thinking and calculating. He'd registered his complaint with Megatron. a short, "plan inadvisable", but Megatron did have a point. Still. he tried to determine the likely effect the ion storm would have on the spacebridge, and quickly concluded there wasn't enough data. No one had ever researched the results of field effects on spacebridge technology before.  
  
He could only hope any problems would be minor.  
  
hr  
  
"There it is." Killroy whispered, staring at the spacebridge intensely.  
  
"Yes, we know. Stop drooling." Rust commented absently, studying the movements of the Autobots around it. The Spacebridge had only minimum security. reaching this point had been very easy. But now. Rust frowned to himself.  
  
He'd never actually used a spacebridge before, but he was well acquainted with them. He'd had the dubious honor of getting a part time job unloading the Hybrid Orchid's spacebridge. It hadn't paid well, but the hours had been flexible enough to accommodate his classes, and he'd only been doing the grunt work, handling things like lumber and grain shipments. Nothing even remotely breakable.  
  
But he'd done it for over two years, and had become depressingly familiar with spacebridge routine. And the routine he was witnessing now was quite clear.  
  
"They're shutting down." He whispered to his conspirators in crime. Foam blinked, or rather a close equivalent. her golden eyes turned black for a brief moment, signaling her surprise.  
  
"You're certain?" She whispered back. Foam knew the technical aspects of the spacebridge far better than Rust, but she'd never actually seen a crew in action. "Why would they be doing that?" It was still quite early in the day. they should be keeping the spacebridge open for hours yet. Rust lifted one shoulder in a shrug.  
  
"I don't know, but it's what they're doing." There was a brief silence as they considered that. No one was pleased, not even Kilroy. This meant something was happening, something the Autobots likely knew that they didn't.  
  
On the other hand, it was a bit late to back out.  
  
"Continue with the plan?" Rust made what could have been a command into a question. Foam was more the leader of their small unit than he was, although he was better at small unit tactics and strategy. Foam and Kilroy both nodded, after a moment of thought.  
  
"We can't afford to go back." Foam replied, her voice firm and smooth, eyes burning with resolve. Kilroy just watched Rust, waiting for his orders. In serious situations, he could become unnervingly quiet. Rust wasn't sure he'd ever get used to that change.  
  
"Okay, here's what we'll do."  
  
hr  
  
The Autobot technicians never knew what hit them. One minute, they were prepping the spacebridge for shutdown due to an extreme Ion storm. The next. they were being assaulted in various, non-lethal, but very painful ways. It was a whirlwind of activity, and the spacebridge flared to life quickly, then died again, completing it's shutdown.  
  
There was a long pause as the technicians recovered. As they did, several of them began to gather around the spacebridge..  
  
"Sir, do you see what I see?" One young Autobot finally asked, his voice edged with awe.  
  
"Mmmm." His elder stared at what had been sent to them, scrapping his fingers thoughtfully across his chassis. The screeching noise of metal against metal didn't bother anyone.  
  
"There's so MANY."  
  
"Mmmm."  
  
"Where did they come from?" Another tech wondered out loud, checking the spacebridge controls. "Terra shows no transfer."  
  
"Mmmm." The younger Autobot looked searchingly at his elder. He recognized the signs of deep cognition.  
  
"Sir? What are you thinking?" He asked hesitantly, as his elder continued to gaze at the cascade of energon cubes.  
  
"No shipment records." His voice sounded slightly dreamy. "Dataspin, how long would it take you to jimmy our power outlet records?"  
  
"Uh, not long." The technician in question was also looking at the cubes. "Not long at all. In fact, I bet I could do it right now."  
  
"Yes. Do that." Excitement and greed was slowly stealing over the group as a whole. They were looking at a fortune in energon cubes. A fortune that no one would claim. if no one found out about it. If it were reported, the authorities would no doubt claim it. The crew had no real claim to it, after all.  
  
But then, neither did the authorities. That thought salved the few guilty consciences, as they gathered up the cubes and split them roughly. That, and the thought that they all deserved some recompense for getting beaten into the ground a few moments ago. This would serve.  
  
Soon, the evidence of how spacebridges are affected by Ion storms was neatly cleared away. 


End file.
